


Extras

by R1pYOu



Series: War and Peace [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:42:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25528396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R1pYOu/pseuds/R1pYOu
Summary: Informations to my work 'Days of War and Peace's formerly known as 'The Shadow Dragon'OCs, Implemented Theories, etc.
Series: War and Peace [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849624
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. OC's

** Original Characters: **

**Merana**

  * Warrior woman from Kayakayanaya
  * Has pierced nipples and rubies embedded in her cheeks
  * Teaches Daenerys how to wield a sword
  * Part of Daenerys's council



**Shaco**

  * Assistant blacksmith in Winterfell
  * Friend to Jon 
  * He provides him with food for the journey beyond the Wall



**Mina**

  * Works as a translator for Aegon



**{Nalia}**

  * Former maid to Daenerys Targaryen
  * Executed for Spying on Daenerys




	2. Prophecies/Visions

** List of all prophecies/visions so far: **

**Chapter 4:**

  * A cloaked man stood before her, his grey beard so long that it slithered on the ground like a snake. In his hands, he held a little vial, filled with a substance as clear as water and an amethyst-colored crystal in it. The old man dropped the large carcass of a boar along with the vital in front of a young Dragon, before once more disappearing into the shadows. 
  * **[SOLVED] This refers to the Grand Maester conspiracy, who are poisoning the Targaryen dragons.**



  * A dark knife, veiled in shadows and dark with blood rose above a great pale wolf, a glowing tower looming in the distance as the knife came down.
  * **[Not solved yet]**



  * [...] a great Kraken rose from beneath the waves, consuming all that came near it. Suddenly it turned into smoke, leaving nothing behind of itself
  * **[Not solved yet]**



  * [...] The smoke formed around an island standing out amidst the ocean. The rock was red with blood and shined with gold, a glass candle burning atop it. The smoke grew denser and denser until [...] the rock was fully clouded within the smoke. 
  * **[SOLVED] This symbolizes Bloodstone surrounded by the mist.**



Chapter 5:

  * A man of silver hair kissing a woman with black hair as 2 men in pale armor witnessed it. They wore long, beautiful, white cloaks that were perfectly clean, not a single bit of dirt darkening the white fabric. 
  * **[SOLVED] This is the wedding between Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Though I am not certain about whether this will take place in the fic, or if it is just a vision of what might have been.**



  * Jon saw the most beautiful woman in the world, with hair of moonlight and eyes as bright as stars sailing with a fleet of a hundred ships into a thick fog of mist. 
  * **[SOLVED] Daenerys setting up her base on Bloodstone**



  * He saw corpses as far as the eye could see all with unnatural blue eyes commanded by creatures of eerie beauty with lean bodies made of ice and eyes as blue as stars. Their voices and laughter rang out across the Icy plains, sharp as icicles, the voice sounding like the cracking of ice on a frozen winter lake. The corpses were clearly dead, but their masters were not, they were strange and beautiful. A different sort of life that was inhuman, yet elegant and dangerous. 
  * **[SOLVED] Well, that's just the Others.**



  * He saw a cloth dragon, a dozen feet long, with a crowd that surrounded it, clapping and cheering. 
  * **[SOLVED] Aegon is the cloth dragon, the "Mummers dragon"**



Chapter 7:

  * He dreamt of a woman crying, begging for them to stop fighting. She screamed from atop a tower, watching the earth turn blood red beneath her... The red turned black and suddenly a crow emerged from the darkness.



Chapter 11:

  * False...dragon, I... curse... you. You shall touch the stars, see the glorious light of a thousand suns and stars laid out before you. You shall see all you could ever have, but you shall have none. Cursed shall you be, cursed by the cruel betrayal of the men you would have served. Entire villages, entire towns shall rend your flesh, curse you, and hate you until the end of days, like an unholy god. Rage against the rising of the sea, rage against the dying of the light. You shall have it all and shall have nothing. May you never find peace, false dragon.
  * **[Not solved yet]**



Chapter 12:

  * Threats are here, more threats will come. A dragon and his gryffin, the children of summer and the children of winter, a crow's fallen apprentice, and the tides of Winter. Dragons of red, dragons of black, the mind of a lion. Treat carefully around the many-colored gemstones. Amethysts, black diamonds, emeralds, green pearls, jade, jet, onyx, opals, rubies and sapphires, light-blue winter diamonds and tourmaline... their beauty is unmatched but also blinding. Beware all and trust none, for betrayal is always present. **[PARTLY SOLVED] A dragon and his griffin are Aegon and Connington. The many gemstones that are listed, are those that Illyrio Mopathis carried around his fingers, as mentioned in Chapter 13**



Chapter 13:

  * He could hear the cracking of wings, louder than thunder as blue mist surrounded him. He traced his hand along his eye, only to find the scar missing. Where the skin had once been rough and pale, it was now normal again, any trace of the scar gone. 
  * **[Solved] In this scene, Jon is in a vision. The absence of the scar shows that he is just there in some kind of spiritual form.**



  * The clapping of wings still grew ever louder, the world twisting and turning, as a crow with one black eye appeared from the fog. A crow with 3 eyes stared at the smaller crow with scorn, as the black-eyed-crow caved loudly. The black eye was shining with malice and madness, trails of blood running through it like roots through the dirt.
  * **[Not solved yet]**



  * The smaller crow stretched his wings to fly, but it couldn't. It jumped from a tower and flapped and flapped, it's wings beating helplessly as it fell towards the ground. It's screams, mixed with cackling laughter echoed in the darkness, as they sound grew faint and distant, losing itself in the distance, until only darkness remained.
  * **[Not solved yet]**



  * A dark dragon soared above, his eyes glowing in a bright purple
  * **[Solved] Daenerys.**



  * A thousand shadows stood around him, shapeless figures veiled in pure white mist, only their glowing blue eyes visible.
  * **[Solved] White Walkers duh**



  * "You will," the pale lord with the ghost grey orbs replied. "Your presence has been demanded at Winterfell and I won't anger the Stark's before the time has come. Not pack your stuff or I will make you regret the day I raped your mother 
  * **[Solved]** **_This is Roose Bolton sending Ramsay to Winterfell_**



Chapter 15:

  * _And who are you, the proud lord said, that I must bow so low? Only a girl far more powerful than you could ever know._ [Solved]
  * **[Solved]** **_Seriously if you don't know who this is referring to, IDK anymore._ **



**More to be added soon.**


	3. Quotes

** Important Quotes/Quotes that define the character: **

** Daenerys **

**Quotes by Daenerys:**

  * _False Kings cower behind false crowns and titles. A true monarch takes what he wants._
  * _I'll be what I set out to be. No doubts, no hesitation. I only go forwards, hard, and fast. I'll never look back, only forwards. If I look back, I am lost._
  * _Tell me what crimes I have committed. List every single one of them, every man I killed, every soldier I have burned. List everything and in return, I will tell you the price of victory._
  * _I was born a little girl just like millions before me. Westeros made me a wanted criminal just for my families deeds._
  * _Power belongs to those who are strong enough to take it._



**Quotes about Daenerys:**

  * _She really was an extravagant beauty, just as rumors foretold, though her false smile and cold, even dangerous eyes slightly disturbed that grace._ ~Jon Connington
  * _"She's an axe hanging over our heads, ready to come down at any time." --- "There is no axe looming above you, Robert. It's a dragon who is standing above you. And throwing stones at it is not the way to deal with it."_ ~Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon



** Jon Snow **

**Quotes by Jon:**

  * "You should consider yourself lucky I am not Ramsay or I would have rebelled long ago." ~Jon to Catelyn Tully Stark
  * "Fight me? I thought you had a little self-respect." ~Jon to Theon
  * "I want my mother" ~Jon to Ned Stark at age 4



**Quotes about Jon:**

  * A Prince... Rhaegar ran off with Lyanna for a third child ~Jon to Bloodraven, unaware of his identity.
  * You're a wolf, Jon Snow, your loyal companions in the stables are proof of that. But you are not just that. You're also a dragon. Be a dragon. ~Maester Aemon



** Ramsay **

**Quotes by Ramsay:**

  * _"You're a maniac." --- "An efficient maniac."_ ~Jon and Ramsay Snow
  * _"Why do only you Starks get to have your family sigil follow you around?" --- "You want a flayed man to follow you around?" ---"What's wrong with that?"_ ~Jon and Ramsay Snow
  * _"I never wanted it to happen... she just... came at me. And I fought." ~_ Ramsay about killing his mother



**Quotes about Ramsay:**

  * _His blood is bad. He needs to be leeched. The leeches suck away the bad blood, all the rage, and pain. No man can think so full of anger. Ramsay, though … his tainted blood would poison even leeches, I fear._ ~Roose Bolton
  * _A mad dog_. ~Catelyn Tully



** Aegon Blackfyre **

**Quotes by Aegon**

  * "I am your king. Your nephew by blood and last remaining child of Rhaegar Targaryen. The head of House Targaryen and heir to the throne. You are only the sister, whereas I am the son. By all the laws of gods and men, I am your king." ~Aegon to Daenerys Targaryen
  * I was faced with hard choices and I made the right one. I never intended it, I never wanted it. Had there been a way to prevent it, I would have taken it without hesitation. ~Aegon on the Sack of Volantis



**Quotes about Aegon**

  * _He does at least have the confidence of a king if nothing else. ~Thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen_
  * _False Dragon. ~ High Priest Benerro_




	4. Implemented Theories

** Implemented Theories **

**Blackfyre Theory: **

**"Black or Red, a dragon is still a dragon." - Illyrio Mopatis**

**1)** I'm not 100% convinced that Aegon VI is an imposter in canon. There are 3 real possibilities: He is the actual son of Rhaegar and Elia, he is the son of Ashara Dayne and whoever dishonored her at Harrenhal, or Aegon VI is a Blackfyre.

If Aegon VI is a true Targaryen, Illyrio's actions in AGOT make sense. Viserys is not a capable leader and Dany is viewed to him as a weak little girl. Illyrio has no intention of putting a weak Targ on the Iron Throne. 

He gives them to the Dothraki with every intention of both of them dying, or at least Viserys. With Viserys gone and Dany as a Dothraki bride, Illyrio might see potential allies for Aegon VI. 

He and Varys know about Aegon VI and have every intention of keeping him a secret and manipulating situations to make it better for Aegon VI to rise to power. An army of Dothraki with the only other known Targaryan as the Khals bride could be powerful allies.

Or they simply want Daenerys and Viserys to invade with the Dothraki but failing in doing so. They would still be severely weakening Westeros

So Aegon being a Targaryen is quite plausible.

**BUT** : If Aegon VI is a Blackfyre, Illyrio's actions in both AGOT **and** ADWD make sense. He is the son of Serra Blackfyre and himself. Why would Illyrio want to support a random Targaryen? Just for the sake of becoming the next Master of Coin?

Besides, it is often indicated, that there will be a false dragon. Moqorro's vision about true and false dragons, the mummer's dragon, the story of the red dragon turning black over time.

So... Aegon is a Blackfyre.

** Quaithe - Shiera Seastar Theory **

**"Remember who you are, Daenerys. The dragons know. Do you?" -Shiera Seastar as Quaithe**

I've become convinced Quaithe is Shiera Seastar. Parts of this theory have appeared on westeros.org, but I'll put it all together here.

Shiera Seastar was the last of the Great Bastards of Aegon the IV and sister to Blackfyre, Bloodraven, and Bittersteel.

How is she still alive? Quoting the WikiOIAF, Shiera's mother was Lady Serenei of Lys who "was rumored to be much older than the king, practicing dark arts to retain her youth and beauty." Shiera herself "was a great reader, even at an early age, who spoke many languages, and maintained a large and arcane library. She also was reputed to share her mother's skill in the dark arts." Shiera could quite easily have retained her youth and beauty through sorcery.

Shiera was one of the great beauties of her day, famous for her Targaryen hair and mismatched eyes, which might explain the mask as Quaithe.

Quaithe is, of course, fluent in Westerosi and many languages of the east as Shiera was.

Now for the textual clues. The "Seastar" or "Stella Maris," i.e. the North Star, was long used as a navigational aid for sailors and those generally trying to get where they needed to go. Now look at Dany's first meeting with Quaithe:

Quote: "If you have some warning for me, speak plainly. What do you want of me, Quaithe? Moonlight shone in the woman’s eyes. "To show you the way."

Quaithe is Dany's guiding "seastar" to help her cross the ocean to Westeros, or wherever she needs to go.

Now notice the imagery in this passage from the last Dany chapter in A Dance with Dragons:

Quote: She dreamed. All her cares fell away from her, and all her pains as well, and she seemed to float upward into the sky. She was flying once again, spinning, laughing, dancing, as the *stars* wheeled around her and whispered secrets in her ear. “To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward, you must go back. To touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.“Quaithe?” Dany called. “Where are you, Quaithe?” Then she saw. Her mask is made of *starlight*. “Remember who you are, Daenerys,” the *stars whispered in a woman’s voice*. “The dragons know. Do you?”

So basically, stars mentioned everywhere. Martin is pretty damn clever with these names. Now if I am correct that Quaithe is Shiera, it leads to some interesting parallels. Both her and Bloodraven are counseling important pieces in the upcoming conflict, Bran (in this story Jon) and Dany.

At the same time, the other two Great Bastards still remain influential beyond the grave: Blackfyre through young Aegon (if you believe the Blackfyre theory) and Bittersteel through the Golden Company, which he founded and is currently at the command of Aegon. Each of the Great Bastards lives on in a way... to what ends?

** Drogon (Rhaellion) = The Stallion Who Mounts the World Theory **

The 'Stallion who Mounts the World' is a Dothraki prophesy, first mentioned to Dany by the one-eyed Crone in Vaes Dothrak. However, we can see from what Jorah says that the prophecy was first conceived a _long_ time ago, and has likely been re-told and passed down ever since.

Let's imagine how the prophecy came about. In ancient times, a powerful and wise Dothraki crone might have looked into 'the smoke', as the one-eyed crone did in aGoT.

The ancient crone sees, in her minds eye, a united Khalasar heading to some kind of war. Leading them seems to be a dragon. However, at that stage, **the crone had never seen a dragon before** , and perhaps **no** Dothraki had. There might not have even a Dothraki word for Dragon back then.

So, the crone tries to interpret what these beasts might be, and of course, being Dothraki describes it as a 'Stallion'. The Dothraki seem to interpret things they don't understand as being horse-related.

The crone sees the 'Stallion' flying in front of/leading the united Khalasar. She knows what flying is, she has seen birds. However, there is something troubling about the scenario. The Dothraki, a very traditional race, are proud of their customs. One of their key beliefs is that the leader of a Khalasar MUST RIDE.

So the crone doesn't interpret the Stallion as flying, it **must** be riding. She shoe-horns and sees that the Stallion _is_ in fact riding... It's riding the world... _it has mounted the world_.

So **'mounting the world' is allegorical, it means flying**. That ties the visions together with the Dothraki beliefs.

The Stallion That Mounts the World = The Dragon that Fly's.

Given what we know is happening at the end of aDwD, and that Dany sees herself with the Dosh Khaleen in tHotU, we can assume that the dragon is **Drogon (Rhaellion)**.

Over the years and re-tellings, the original 'Stallion' vision and prophecy has simply been personified. The Dothraki are expecting a person to unite the Khalasars.

Beyond that, Daenerys's son was prophecized to be this Stallion who mounts the world. And in a way, with this theory it becomes true. Drogon (Rhaellion here) is her child. And so, he is the Stallion who mounts the world. 

Of course, Viserion or Rhaegal could be this stallion as well, but for convenience it's Rhaellion.

** Grand Maester Conspiracy **

**"They scurry everywhere, living on the leavings of the lords, chittering to one another, whispering in the ears of their masters. But who are the masters and who are the servants, truly?" -Lady Dustin**

I'm sure most of you have a pretty good understanding of this theory, and it is one of the generally accepted theories (up there with R+L=J and Frey pies). Basically, the theory states that the Maesters have been working since their inception to rid the world of magic.

We will first start off with the cause of magic in the universe of ASOIAF. From the ASOIAF wiki: "Dragons are believed to be intrinsically tied to magic and the seasons of the world. Since dragons became extinct from Westeros, the power of magic dwindled and winters grew colder." Even if they aren't directly caused, there is a correlation between dragons and magic.

So eliminating dragons might eliminate magic, right?

Well, we know that the largest dragon known to man was Balerion the Black Dread, Aegon I Targaryen's black dragon who burnt Harrenhal to a crisp (ASOS Chapter 8, Daenerys I). Since then, dragons grew smaller and smaller. After the Dance of Dragons, the species became somewhat endangered. Many people believe(d) this to be the confinement of dragons in pits.

Here's the proof that that is wrong. After killing the Meereenese girl Hazzea, Viserion and Rhaegal are confined and chained in the Great Pyramid, which is a makeshift Dragon Pit (ADWD Chapter 11, Daenerys II). It should have the same effect, right? Wrong. Later, when she first visits the dragon pit, she realizes that Viserion has grown larger despite confinement.

So we know that there was another reason for the dragons becoming weaker and stronger. The theory that dragons were supposed to live free in the skies instead of chains, however, was created by the maesters. For being very knowledgeable, they were pretty far from the mark.

Now, let's take a deeper look. The following is a conversation between Lady Dustin and Theon (as Reek) in ADWD (Chapter 37, stylistically titled 'The Prince of Winterfell'):

_As Maester Medrick went to one knee to whisper in Bolton's ear, Lady Dustin's mouth twisted in distaste. "If I were queen, the first thing I would do would be to kill all those grey rats. They scurry everywhere, living on the leavings of the lords, chittering to one another, whispering in the ears of their masters. But who are the masters and who are the servants, truly?"_

_"Every great lord has his maester, ever lesser lord aspires to one. If you do not have a maester, it is taken to mean that you are of little consequence. The grey rats read and write our letters, even for such lords as cannot read themselves, and who can say for a certainty that they are not twisting the words for their own ends? What good are they, I ask you?"_

_"They heal," said Theon. It seemed to be expected of him._

_"They heal, yes. I never said they were not subtle. They tend to us when we are sick and injured, or distraught over the illness of a parent or child. Whenever we are weakest and most vulnerable, there they are."_

_"Sometimes they heal us, and we are duly grateful. When they fail, they console us in our grief, and we are grateful for that as well. Out of gratitude we give them a place beneath our roof and make them privy to all our shames and secrets, a part of every council. And before too long, the ruler has become the ruled."_

**Here's where it gets important**

_"That was how it was with Lord Rickard Stark. Maester Walys was his grey rat's name. And isn't it clever how the maesters only go by one name, even those who had two when they first arrived at the Citadel? That way we cannot know who they truly are or where they come from...but if you are dogged enough, you can still find out."_

_"Before he had forged his chain, Maester Walys had been known as Walyn Flowers. Flowers, Hill, Rivers, Snow...we give such names to baseborn children to mark them for what they are, but they are always quick to shed them. Walys Flowers had a Hightower girl for a mother...and an archmaester of the Citadel for a father, it was rumored. The grey rats are not as chaste as they would have us believe. Oldtown maesters are the worst of all."_

_"Once he forged his chain, his secret father and his friends wasted no time dispatching him to Winterfell to fill Lord Rickard's ears with poisoned words as sweet as honey. The Tully marriage was his notion, never doubt it, he -" She broke off as Roose Bolton rose to his feet, pale eyes shining in the torchlight._

I believe there is another, more damning, scene between Theon and Dustin, but I'm not going to waste so much space copying it. Basically, the gist of her story is that the maesters were responsible for setting Robert's Rebellion into motion, even if Rhaegar was the spark that lit the kindling they were building.

So what's the point of destabilizing the realm and possibly unseating the Targaryens? I don't think we know that yet. But it still fits in with the idea of the maesters being more than they seem.

Another thing that Marwyn the Mage tells Sam is: "say nothing of prophecies or dragons, unless you fancy poison in your porridge."

This is the crux of the maester conspiracy. Marwyn has admitted that the maesters killed the dragons for their magical connotations, and admitting that they are "building" their own world. This could, perhaps, also connect to the beginnings of Robert's Rebellion. They needed someone to overthrow the Targaryens, the most prolific reminder of the magic of Old Valyria. Instead, they replace him with Andals and First Men.

So, The Maesters hate dragons and magic.

...and who is the only person left in the world with dragons?

** Septa Lemore is Ashara Dayne Theory **

A very controversial theory. The main point, why many refuse to believe that Ashara Dayne is Septa Lemore, is due to the fact that Jon Connington never mentions it in his POV chapters.

Though he should know who she is, given that Jon danced with her during the Tourney of Harrenhal. Still, I think that is not enough evidence against it. I mean, he also refers to Aegon as Young Griff most of the time, so why not refer to Ashara as Septa Lemore? It's simply what happens when someone goes by a certain name.

Though, admittedly, there is also not very much that speaks for it. Septa Lemore is the only relatively unknown character within the books, who does not have her own child in tow, yet GRRM intentionally lets his readers know that she had been pregnant.. at least once.

**_A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion IV_ **

_She had stretch marks on her belly that could only have come from childbirth._

So, who is she? What evidence is there to support really any identity?

The best answer to that last question, if we're being honest, is "not much." Indeed, this is one of the reasons that Lemore's potential true identity demands exploration. 

The lack of detail provided in describing her physical appearance is stunning, particularly for a series that had given us so much detail in the past. No hair color, no eye color, no distinguishing characteristics, no house resemblance. 

This sudden descriptive hesitance suggests a fairly bald-faced attempt at hiding Lemore's true colors, and while there may be sound narrative justification for it, it's still bold enough to get us thinking about the few hints we _do_ have regarding Lemore. These break down as follows: her title, her age, her surroundings and place in the story, and the stretch marks on her stomach.

When referred to by title, Lemore nearly always answers to "septa," for that is who she's supposed to be. There are two instances, however, of Jon Connington thinking of her as "Lady Lemore" - the first time she appears in each of his POV chapters.

To see Lemore referenced as "Lady" one time in the book might be merely a sign of courtesy, or a mistake. Seeing it twice helps reinforce it as intentional, however, and the fact that it happens in two different chapters, from the POV of the same character makes it an extremely difficult clue to ignore. It suggests very strongly that Lemore is high-born, a lady of a Westerosi house.

In regards to age... it's also very vague. From ADWD 15, Tyrion IV: 

"She was past forty, more handsome than pretty, but still easy on the eye."

Again, this fits with Ashara. We know very little about Ashara's age, only that she was born sometime after 260 AC

ADWD takes place at the end of the year 300 AC and the beginning of 301 AC. So assuming that Ashara was indeed born in the year 260 AC, the age fits.

So why is she with Aegon? 

Assuming she is indeed some lady of Westeros, any examination of her identity should attempt to answer both the question of why she is aboard the _Shy Maid_ and why she is hiding her true name. 

It may be that these questions have the same answer; after all, if Lemore is a Targaryen loyalist, that seems ample reason enough to go into hiding when one is a noble under the rule of King Robert Baratheon.

So, in the end, my conclusion:

There are very little relevant noble Westerosi ladies, that fit the criteria of being Septa Lemore.

  * Ashara Dayne was a lady-in-waiting and good friend to Elia Martell, the wife of Prince Rhaegar. It is very likely that she would want vengeance for her brutally murdered friend. So she has a good reason to be with "Aegon", who also wants justice for Elia.
  * It is explicitly said, that after her supposed suicide, her body was never found.
  * Ashara Dayne has very distinct features, like her purple eyes, which would explain why George would not describe her looks.
  * Ashara Dayne did have a stillborn daughter with either Brandon or Ned Stark. This explains the stretch marks on her body.



But for the sake of the argument, I will write why I think the other theories are NOT true.

Theorie 1 - She's the mother of Tyene Sand.

We know that Tyene's mother was a septa, and if we guess that Tyene is around the same age as Arianne (23), then her mother would quite likely be in her fourties. 

But this is also the most blatantly obvious answer to Septa Lemore. Something that doesn't quite fit GRRM

But there are more things that don't fit with this theory. Tyene's mother is actually _too_ close to House Martell to be a valid option since Doran Martell has no knowledge about Aegon. Had he known, he would never have sent Quentyn to Daenerys.

And we know that Tyene's mother is still in Westeros. In AFFC 22, The Queenmaker there is this passage: _Arianne Martell had crossed the Mander once when she had gone with three of the Sand Snakes to visit Tyene's mother._

So Septa Lemore certainly isn't Tyene's mother.

Theorie 2: Wenda the White Fawn

Wenda the White Fawn is an interesting case. Having merely been mentioned a few times as a member of the infamous Kingswood Brotherhood, her candidacy largely stems from the fact that, as an outlaw, she could conceivably have found a place with the Golden Company and/or Jon Connington following the Brotherhood's defeat.

Having been described as young and fair, she could conceivably have been in her late teens/early twenties during her time as an outlaw, which would make Lemore's age right for her.

But this is again weird. The brotherhood was against the rule of a Targaryen King. Unless Wenda has had a massive change of heart in the last twenty years, it seems highly unlikely that she would lend her hand to a plot to restore the Targaryen dynasty.

And she wasn't a noble lady, which speaks against the 'Lady' title, that JonCon gives her.

Theorie 3: Lyanna Stark

Oh, yes. Lyanna Stark is a major and popular candidate for the true identity of Septa Lemore. The entire foundation of her candidacy rests on the idea that Lyanna did not, in fact, die as a result of child-birth, as commonly articulated in the now-famous "R+L=J" theory.

The one criterion that doesn't quite match up is the age factor. Lyanna was born in 267 AC, making her just over thirty years old. So Lyanna is too young to be Septa Lemore.

It's true that Ned Stark never explicitly remembers Lyanna dying, and therefore her continued existence remains a possibility, albeit a remote one.

However, there's just not enough to go on here to justify bringing a character like Lyanna back to life. The consequences of her death have been one the central beams holding up this story, and Septa Lemore is too flimsy of an excuse to knock it down without further evidence.

**Conclusion: Only Ashara Dayne really remains. So in this story, Septa Lemore is Ashara Dayne.**

** Euron Greyjoy = Urrathon Nightwalker Theory **

**Urrathon Night-Walker** is a character mentioned only briefly in A Clash of Kings which is also the book where Euron is first mentioned.

_Dany had laughed when he told her. "Was it not you who told me warlocks were no more than old soldiers, vainly boasting of forgotten deeds and lost prowess?"_

_Xaro looked troubled. "And so it was, then. But now? I am less certain._ **_It is said that the glass candles are burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, that have not burned in a hundred years._** \- Daenerys V, ACOK

This is the only time Urrathon Night-Walker is ever mentioned. But the name Urrathon is used in one other place in GRRMs writing. It is the name of the brief King of the Iron Islands Urrathon Goodbrother, or "Badbrother" who's story is a direct parallel to Euron's story.

_"Upon the death of King Urragon III Greyiron (Urragon the Bald), his younger sons hurriedly convened a kingsmoot whilst their elder brother Torgon was raiding up the Mander, thinking that one of them would be chosen to wear the driftwood crown. To their dismay, the captains and kings chose Urrathon Goodbrother of Great Wyk instead. The first thing the new king did was command that the sons of the old king be put to death. For that, and for the savage cruelty he oft displayed during his two years as king, Urrathon IV Goodbrother is remembered in history as Badbrother." - TWOAIF_

Note that this is the only other story of a Kingsmoot that is actually _described_ anywhere. We know there was more than just this one and the one in AFFC, but this is the only one where we have the story. And in this story, Theon is a clear parallel to Torgon, while Euron is a parallel to Urrathon. In fact, the Torgon latecomer is the Chehkov's gun of the Kingsmoot...

_Asha remembered now. "Torgon came home …"_

_"… and said the kingsmoot was unlawful since he had not been there to make his claim. Badbrother had proved to be as mean as he was cruel and had few friends left upon the isles. The priests denounced him, the lords rose against him, and his own captains hacked him into pieces. Torgon the Latecomer became the king and ruled for forty years."_

_Asha took Tris Botley by the ears and kissed him full upon the lips. He was red and breathless by the time she let him go. "What was that?" he said. - The Wayward Bride, ADWD_

Now, I'm sure the skeptics among you are saying. "So there is a dude with an Ironborn name with a house if Qarth and Glass Candles. And so the names are a bit suspicious. Could be a coincidence. What else do we have tying this guy to Euron."

_Well..._ There is the fact that Euron is actually right around Qarth at this time in canon.

_"I mean to open your eyes." Euron drank deep from his own cup and smiled. "Shade-of-the-evening, the wine of the warlocks._ **_I came upon a cask of it when I captured a certain galleas out of Qarth, along with some cloves and nutmeg, forty bolts of green silk, and four warlocks who told a curious tale._** _One presumed to threaten me, so I killed him and fed him to the other three. They refused to eat of their friend's flesh at first, but when they grew hungry enough they had a change of heart. Men are meat." - The Reaver, AFFC_ *

How do we know Euron is telling the truth about capturing Warlocks outside of Qarth?

Well, Xaro confirms his story...

_"Not all your enemies are in the Yellow City._ **_Beware men with cold hearts and blue lips. You had not been gone from Qarth a fortnight when Pyat Pree set out with three of his fellow warlocks,_** _to seek for you in Pentos." - Xaro (Daenerys III, ADWD)_

Not two weeks after Dany had left Qarth, the Warlocks headed after Daenerys and Euron captured them. We actually see the warlocks in his possession in the Forsaken chapter. This means that Euron was near Qarth, which means that Euron and this Urrathon of Qarth with the Ironborn name and the Glass Candles were in the same place.

Euron is also a collector of magical artifacts. He possesses incredibly rare Valyrian steel armor, a Dragon Binding horn, Shade of the Evening, and at one point presumably a Dragon Egg. Also, he collects magical people. He has in his possession 3 warlocks, a Red priest, a septon, and a Drowned Man. He also at one point hired a Faceless Man to kill Balon.

_I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings." - TGOHH, Arya IV, ASOS_

Now, is there evidence that Euron has a glass candle? Well...

_"All Valyrian sorcery was rooted in blood or fire. The sorcerers of the Freehold could see across mountains, seas, and deserts with one of these glass candles._ **_They could enter a man's dreams and give him visions,_** _and speak to one another half a world apart, seated before their candles. Do you think that might be useful, Slayer?" - Samwell V, AFFC_

Glass candles are used to send visions and appear in people's dreams. Is there any evidence Euron is doing this?

_A fuck ton actually._

Let's look at the Forsaken chapter, where Euron continues to appear in Aeron's dreams...

_When he laughed his face sloughed off and the priest saw that it was not Urri but Euron, the smiling eye hidden. He showed the world his blood eye now, dark and terrible. Clad head to heel in scale as dark as onyx, he sat upon a mound of blackened skulls as dwarfs capered around his feet, and a forest burned behind him. “The bleeding star bespoke the end,” he said to Aeron. “These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits.”_

_Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and_ **_sphinxes_** _came at his command and bowed before him. “Kneel, brother,” the Crow’s Eye commanded. “I am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.” - The Forsaken, TWOW_

Now, if you are determined to believe that Aeron's dreams are just his anxiety about Euron, and Euron is not interfering in them in any way, that belief sort of has to stop here. The sphinxes in this dream represent Euron's attack on Oldtown, as the entrance to the Citadel is flanked by statues of Sphinxes. 

Aeron does not know that Euron's plan is to attack Oldtown, yet the dream depicts this anyways. This means Aeron is being acted on from an external source, which given the systematic nature of the dreams in trying to break down Aeron, it is clearly Euron.

Also, Euron appears in Dany's dream.

_"Sleep came hard, even when Daario came back, so drunk that he could hardly stand. Beneath her coverlets she tossed and turned, dreaming that Hizdahr was kissing her …_ **_but his lips were blue and bruised, and when he thrust himself inside her, his manhood was cold as ice."_ **_\- Daenerys VII, ADWD_

What proof is there that this is Euron? well, who is the only character in the novels described as having blue bruised lips? You guessed it.

_"King Crow's Eye, brother." Euron smiled. His lips looked very dark in the lamplight,_ **_bruised and blue."_** _\- The Iron Captain_

and again...

_"Euron turned to face him, his_ **_bruised blue lips_** _curled in a half smile." - The Reaver_

Euron is projecting himself into Daenerys' dreams. He has the motive, the means, and he fits the profile. In fact, he is the only one who fits the profile.

**Tl;dr:** _Urrathon Night-Walker is Euron Greyjoy, and he is using a glass candle to project himself into people's dreams and send visions._

** Euron is Bloodraven's failed apprentice theory **

So, why do I think Euron Crow's Eye is working for the Three-Eyed Crow? 

The name given to Brynden River’s spies were his _eyes_ and here we have a character who adopts the name “Crow’s Eye” and has a sigil with a red eye and a crown supported by two crows. GRRM is not being very subtle here…

Now, let’s say this interpretation is correct – that GRRM is heavily foreshadowing that Bloodraven and Euron are working with each other. Is this consistent with the thematic tone of the work? I argue a resounding yes. At its core, ASoIaF is an exploration of war and a deconstruction of the stories we are told or tell ourselves to wage war.

Rather than just be a shocking twist – that Dumbledore is in league with Voldemort – a Bloodraven / Euron working relationship feeds into this approach of writing about war as a nasty thing. It explores one aspect of war somewhat developed in the prior books (Tywin and the Mountain, for example) but which anyone growing up during the Vietnam War and the Cold War would be very familiar with, the use and enablement of human monsters to achieve policy objectives.

Bloodraven is one of our avatars of covert operations and espionage. 

During his Targaryen years, the reader sees him in action in _The Mystery Night_ using subterfuge, magic, intelligence gathering, and manipulation to achieve his goals – covertly eliminating a potential threat to the security of the kingdom. Bloodraven demonstrates an unwillingness to openly work with potential allies outside his control, gleeful withholding of information, and a high tolerance towards exposing others to danger, even permitting a noble Dunk and even a prince to be in danger lest it jeopardize his operation.

We have no evidence that the Bloodraven we see in _The Mystery Night_ has changed in personality in temperament. We assume so because we think GRRM is following the wise-elder-guiding-his-apprentice trope in Bloodraven’s interactions with Bran. We’re ignoring, however, the ominous statements signs that Bloodraven played Jojen:

_Under the hill, Jojen Reed grew ever more sullen and solitary, to his sister's distress. She would often sit with Bran beside their little fire, talking of everything and nothing, petting Summer where he slept between them, whilst her brother wandered the caverns by himself. Jojen had even taken to climbing up to the cave's mouth when the day was bright. He would stand there for hours, looking out over the forest, wrapped in furs yet shivering all the same._

_"He wants to go home," Meera told Bran. "He will not even try and fight his fate. He says the greendreams do not lie."_

_"He's being brave," said Bran. The only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid, his father had told him once, long ago, on the day they found the direwolf pups in the summer snows. He still remembered._

_"He's being stupid," Meera said. "I'd hoped that when we found your three-eyed crow … now I wonder why we ever came."_

Instead, if we take the more likely perspective that Bloodraven has remained the same manipulative jerk as he was when serving as Hand, Bloodraven has only grown more powerful and with fewer restraints, operating as a demigod on a mission. So what happens when you give a guy like Bloodraven the equivalent of superpowers?

You get, essentially, a CIA without any Congressional oversight.

Thus, using the analogy of Bloodraven as the CIA, Euron is his brutal dictator asset – his Sadam Hussein, Iranian Shah, Papa Doc, Pinochet, etc. While Bloodraven presumably finds Euron and his actions distasteful on a personal level, but so long as Euron listens to Bloodraven and follow his orders to secure dragons to battle an Others invasion, then Euron will continue to enjoy Bloodraven’s support. This is probably manifested in the visions Aeron received in the Forsaken. Notably, of the gods shown dispatched by Euron, including some from far off Essos, there is no symbolic murder of the Northern Old Gods. This is a surprising omission as the Northern Old Gods are as familiar and geographically close to the Iron Islanders as the Seven and have a clear symbol – the weirwood tree face.

Keep in mind, even though the text heavily suggests that Bloodraven and Euron may be in league together, there is no guarantee that this partnership will continue (the CIA’s history is filled with examples of dictators later spurning their patron) or that Euron is motivated by anything other than personal ambition. Instead, it’s merely an indication that Bloodraven views Euron as an asset in achieving his goals and Euron is making all the right noises to reinforce Bloodraven’s confidence that Euron is his man in Westeros, such as adopting a sigil of devotion to Bloodraven and calling himself the Crow’s Eye.

Also, not only have we had past examples of this leader-agent dynamic with Tywin and the Mountain, but we also have Roose and Ramsay, Doran and Oberyn, House Targaryen, and Bloodraven, etc. It's actually pretty standard practice in aSoIaF for leaders to have unclear agents doing the dirty work whom the leader can disavow if things go sideways.

I thus find the most popular explanation for the connection between Euron and Bloodraven – that Euron is some sort of fallen apprentice or failed prospect now out to prove everyone wrong – to be likely off the mark. It reeks of Star Wars, and we should know by now that any theory based on the GRRM copying a plot beat from a movie series best known for taking classical fantasy tropes and shoving them into space opera is most certainly wrong. GRRM is practically laughing at us for assuming the trope:

_He had thought the three-eyed crow would be a sorcerer, a wise old wizard who could fix his legs, but that was some stupid child's dream._

Tl;dr – The spooky textual connections between Bloodraven and Euron are best explained as foreshadowing that Bloodraven is still an espionage spook and Euron is his asset.

**Theory - Origin of Daenerys' Dragon eggs**

In the book Fire & Blood, there is a girl named Elissa Farman -- Queen Rhaena's former lover.

In the year 54 AC, Elissa Farman steals three dragons eggs from Dragonstone and sells them in Essos for a ship and gold. Now, it's very possible that three dragon eggs that Elissa stole were the ones that ended up in Illyrio's possession and the same ones he gives to Daenerys at her wedding feast in Dany's 2nd AGOT chapter.

However, and this is not meant to be wholly pedantic, but it's not 100% confirmed that these are the same eggs. I think it's now a strong probability, but we'd need to see more chain of custody information on how those dragon eggs ended in Illyrio's possession after the Sealord in Braavos seemingly had them.

It's actually the reason, why I had the Sealord give them to Daenerys in this story, and not Illyrio.

While I do like this theory a lot and believe it to be true, we have to concede, however, that there’s no real reason to think they are past the number and general location.

There was no shortage of eggs after the Dance. We know at least 1 Targaryen got really loose with the eggs after they stopped hatching. We know there were still enough eggs to continue the egg in the cradle tradition at least through Egg’s time. We know there wasn’t a cache on Dragonstone after the fall of the dynasty. It stands to reason there are a score or so eggs floating around Essos.

But I gotta say that essentially, Illyrio returning the Targaryens' stolen property (the three eggs) to a Targaryen after they were stolen by Elissa hundreds of years before would be a brilliant touch on GRRM's part. And the fee that Illyrio and Varys will collect ... ah, that remains to be seen.

**Ice Dragons in the Shivering Sea**

There's really not that much to this theory. I merely like it. Not even sure if we will have an Ice Dragon in this story. Some kind of "If I feel like it" kind of thing.

The theory is that there are massive Ice Dragons roaming in the Shivering Sea.

On three occasions in aDwD, Jon mentions the Ice Dragon and we all know GRRM loves his foreshadowing:

  * "The wind was gusting, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan had told when Jon was a boy.”

  * "The road beneath the Wall was as dark and cold as the belly of an ice dragon and as twisty as a serpent.”

  * "The wind was blowing from the east along the Wall, cold as the breath of the ice dragon in the tales Old Nan used to tell."




They are also mentioned in The World of Ice and Fire. 

Of all the queer and fabulous denizens of the Shivering Sea, however, the greatest are the ice  
dragons. These colossal beasts, many times larger than the dragons of Valyria, are said to be made of  
living ice, with eyes of pale blue crystal and vast translucent wings through which the moon and stars  
can be glimpsed as they wheel across the sky. Whereas common dragons (if any dragon can truly be  
said to be common) breathe flame, ice dragons supposedly breathe cold, a chill so terrible that it can  
freeze a man solid in half a heartbeat.  
Sailors from half a hundred nations have glimpsed these great beasts over the centuries, so  
mayhaps there is some truth behind the tales. Archmaester Margate has suggested that many legends of  
the north—freezing mists, ice ships, Cannibal Bay, and the like—can be explained as distorted  
reports of ice-dragon activity. Though an amusing notion, and not without a certain elegance, this  
remains the purest conjecture. As ice dragons supposedly melt when slain, no actual proof of their  
existence has ever been found.

So maybe we'll get to see some cool Ice Dragons in The Winds of Winter. Or maybe not. Wait and see, I suppose.

**Euron's Valyrian Death Armor Theory**

TWOW Spoilers below...

In ASOIAF there are hundreds, if not thousands of Valyrian steel blades in circulation.

> The Valyrian steel blades that remain in the world might number in the thousands, but in the Seven Kingdoms there are only 227 such weapons according to Archmaester Thurgood's Inventories, some of which have since been lost or have disappeared from the annals of history. -TWOIAF

But as far as we know only one suit of Valyrian steel armor.

> Euron Crow’s Eye stood upon the deck of Silence, clad in a suit of black scale armor like nothing Aeron had ever seen before. Dark as smoke it was, but Euron wore it as easily as if it was the thinnest silk. The scales were edged in red gold, and gleamed and shimmered when they moved. Patterns could be seen within the metal, whorls and glyphs and arcane symbols folded into the steel.

> Valyrian steel, the Damphair knew. His armor is Valyrian steel. In all the Seven Kingdoms, no man owned a suit of Valyrian steel. Such things had been known 400 years ago, in the days before the Doom, but even then, they would’ve cost a kingdom. -The Forsaken, TWOW

Now a suit of scale armor probably takes more steel to make than a sword. But hundreds of times more? Thousands? Why would it cost that much more to make a suit of armor?

Like everything about Euron, the truth is probably very, very messed up.

 **Premise 1: Each piece of Valyrian steel metal has to be made individually.** You probably can't make a big sheet of Valyrian steel, then soften it up with heat and punch a bunch of scales out. Because barring certain magical conditions (conditions that are costly to create, as we'll see), Valyrian Steel is practically indestructible. Not to mention, it seems to require many foldings, implying that each piece _has to_ be forged, not stamped or cast.

> Only one metal could be beaten so thin and still have strength enough to fight with, and there was no mistaking those ripples, the mark of steel that has been folded back on itself many thousands of times. -ASOS

So each scale has to be made individually.

**Premise 2: The manufacture of Valyrian steel relies not just on blood but on souls.**

Consider the myth of Lightbringer, probably originating from Asshai...

> "A hundred days and a hundred nights he labored on the third blade, and as it glowed white-hot in the sacred fires, he summoned his wife. 'Nissa Nissa,' he said to her, for that was her name, 'bare your breast, and know that I love you best of all that is in this world.' She did this thing, why I cannot say, and Azor Ahai thrust the smoking sword through her living heart. It is said that her cry of anguish and ecstasy left a crack across the face of the moon, but **her blood and her soul and her strength and her courage all went into the steel.** Such is the tale of the forging of Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes." -ACOK

Also consider this description of weapons used by the ironborn in the Dawn Age...

> And when battle was joined upon the shores, mighty kings and famous warriors fell before the reavers like wheat before a scythe, in such numbers that the men of the green lands told each other that the ironborn were demons risen from some watery hell, protected by fell sorceries and possessed of **foul black weapons that drank the very souls of those they slew.** -TWOIAF

Consider that most Valyrian steel is almost black...

> The blade was Valyrian steel, spell-forged and dark as smoke. -AGOT

> The colors are strange," he commented as he turned the blade in the sunlight. Most Valyrian steel was a grey so dark it looked almost black, as was true here as well. But blended into the folds was a red as deep as the grey. The two colors lapped over one another without ever touching, each ripple distinct, like waves of night and blood upon some steely shore. -ASOS

Consider that the ironborn probably had contact with Asshai...

> Archmaester Haereg once advanced the interesting notion that the ancestors of the ironborn came from **some unknown land west of the Sunset Sea,** citing the legend of the Seastone Chair. The throne of the Greyjoys, carved into the shape of a kraken from an oily black stone, was said to have been found by the First Men when they first came to Old Wyk. Haereg argued that the chair was a product of the first inhabitants of the islands, and only the later histories of maesters and septons alike began to claim that they were in fact descended of the First Men. But this is the purest speculation and, in the end, Haereg himself dismissed the idea, and so must we.

Consider that what we know of shadowbinding, the magic school that seems unique to Asshai, is thoroughly implied in various ways to involve the manipulation of souls.

Finally, consider that much of the magic we know as being "Valyrian," such as dragons, may in fact come from the Shadowlands...

> In Asshai, the tales are many and confused, but certain texts—all impossibly ancient—claim that dragons first came from the Shadow, a place where all of our learning fails us. These Asshai'i histories say that a people so ancient they had no name first tamed dragons in the Shadow and brought them to Valyria, teaching the Valyrians their arts before departing from the annals.

To me, the conclusion is clear: dragonflame might be a necessary ingredient in "Valyrian" steel, but souls definitely are. "Valyrian steel" is "shadow steel."

**Premise 3: You probably need a whole soul for each piece.**

Qyburn seems to believe that souls leave "residue" when a person dies...

> Once, at the Citadel, I came into an empty room and saw an empty chair. Yet I knew a woman had been there, only a moment before. The cushion was dented where she'd sat, the cloth was still warm, and her scent lingered in the air. **If we leave our smells behind us when we leave a room, surely something of our souls must remain when we leave this life?** The archmaesters did not like my thinking, though. Well, Marwyn did, but he was the only one. -AFFC

Melisandre seems to confirm this...

> "The bones help," said Melisandre. "The bones remember. The strongest glamors are built of such things. A dead man's boots, a hank of hair, a bag of fingerbones. With whispered words and prayer, **a man's shadow can be drawn forth from such and draped about another like a cloak.** The wearer's essence does not change, only his seeming."

Qohor uses blood sacrifice in reforging Valyrian steel, and blood presumably contains a good amount of "soul residue."

> Maester Pol's treatise on Qohorik metalworking, written during several years of residence in the Free City, reveals just how jealously the secrets are guarded: He was thrice publicly whipped and cast out from the city for making too many inquiries. The final time, his hand was also removed following the allegation that he stole a Valyrian steel blade. According to Pol, the true reason for his final exile was his discovery of blood sacrifices—including the killing of slaves as young as infants—which the Qohorik smiths used in their efforts to produce a steel to equal that of the Freehold. -TWOIAF

Yet blood isn't enough to actually produce new pieces of Valyrian steel. You need the whole soul, trapped through shadowbinding.

**Conclusion:**

[I found a calculator for how many scales it takes to make a suit of armor.](https://theringlord.com/cart/shopcontent.asp?type=ScaleCalculator) I have no idea what Euron's measurements are, and someone who does armoring/cosplay can probably make a more educated guess than me. But assuming the scales are relatively large, **it would take approximately 4000 human souls, most likely of slaves, to manufacture Euron's armor. Euron is literally wearing a mass grave, and the implied lack of reincarnation/afterlife for those people makes it even worse.**

Edit: I forgot to consider the problem of Ice being split. To be honest, I'm not sure what happened there, but we know that the result was fundamentally different than normal Valyrian steel because of the coloring. Perhaps if Brienne and Jaime duel in TWOW we might get more insight. Or if either of those blades go up against another VS blade or Euron's armor.

For now, I'm going to conjecture that whatever happened there was somehow undesirable and weakened the steel because otherwise there really should be a bunch of VS armor sets made out of a half dozen split up swords getting passed around.

Further explanation on the coloring... since we've never ever seen Valyrian Steel in any color other than dark-grey/black (Dawn is something else), it would seem to imply that _you can't_ color Valyrian steel or there would be at least some colored VS floating around. And indeed Tohbo's explanation seems to imply that he has never attempted to recolor Valyrian steel before.

> Your lord father had asked for the crimson of your House, and it was that color I set out to infuse into the metal. But Valyrian steel is stubborn. These old swords remember, it is said, and they do not change easily. I worked half a hundred spells and brightened the red time and time again, but always the color would darken, as if the blade was drinking the sun from it. And some folds would not take the red at all, as you can see.

Which would mean the marbled texture indicates that some of the steel is no longer "Valyrian" and can be colored. The sword has been weakened.

And since Euron seems like the kind of guy who would damn a few thousand souls in exchange for some really good armor... only the best will do.


End file.
